PHOENIX — The brilliance of a spring-time sunset in the Valley of the Sun can take your breath away.

Roll out of bed early enough to witness the sunrise hitting the red-clay mountains behind the outfield wall at Tempe Diablo Stadium, and it can knock the wind out of you as well.

“I don’t remember the last time I’ve been up this early, period, let alone at a ballpark this early,” Matt Vasgersian, the MLB Network anchor and reporter, admitted as he shaded his eyes and squinted to the glare at around 7:30 a.m. Wednesday morning. “I’ve been keeping vampire hours for too long.”

To keep the ball rolling on another episode of the MLB Network’s “30 Clubs/30 Days” series, there’s no time like daybreak to keep the information hot and fresh.

Within a half-hour, Vasgersian didn’t need another hit of Starbucks before he was tossing caffeine-induced questions to Angels manager Mike Scioscia along the first-base line in the team’s spring training home, a facility otherwise empty except for a few vendors setting up their concession stands more than five hours before the first pitch.

The small but tireless MLB crew – including cameraman Rob Newman, sound man Jim Baglino and field producer Mitch Scherr – was in place to do what it’s been doing since the first week of March. It spends as much time as possible over two days with each team, collecting video and audio of key players, managers and team personnel, then links it all back via satellite to the MLB Net offices in Secaucus, N.J., where within 24 hours it is edited into hour-long presentations ready for air.

The studio crew that orchestrates the discussion comes from the deep pool of analysts, former players such as Harold Reynolds, Al Leiter, Dan Plesac, Joe Magrine, Barry Larkin and Mitch Williams – and now, John Smoltz, who signed up to join them this week. Former Cleveland Indians general manager John Hart is also key in the daily critiquing.

The end product is a rich package of in-depth analysis and projections on all aspects of the team’s roster, plus flashbacks to the top moments in their history while looking forward to the hottest prospects. It’s the eye-opening stuff that you don’t even find produced by most of the team’s own local TV partners.

“This isn’t just bells and whistles, it’s the kind of stuff you can sink your teeth into,” said Dodgers manager Joe Torre after sitting for interviews with the network Thursday from the team’s Camelback Ranch facility before their exhibition game against the Chicago Cubs. “I really respect it. To me, it’s legitimate baseball, without a lot of fluff, but reality.”

Having spent the past two weeks hitting all 15 MLB teams that do their prep work in Florida, the series jumped to Arizona this week for the rundown of the Cactus League, starting, by chance, with the expanded looks at the Angels and Dodgers.

A year after launching the “30/30” series months after the MLB Net found its footing with a Jan. 1, 2009, debut, there has been little tweaking to the process, despite its logistical challenges and personnel always a step ahead in the process.

“Going back to six months before we started, this was a project we wanted to focus right out of the gate to show the viewers not only were we serious about covering all 30 teams – not just the big-city franchise – but also to establish the fact with the teams and players we’re on top of things,” said Tony Pettiti, the MLB Network’s president and CEO who prior to this was in a far greater scramble this time of year trying to keep the NCAA basketball tournament moving cleanly as CBS Sports’ executive VP and executive producer.

Pettiti molded the template for the shows with John Entz, the senior VP of production who came over to the MLB Network from Fox Sports Net where he oversaw production of “The Best Damn Sports Show Period.” Viewers who have ventured beyond episodes focused only on their teams – of fantasy league owners seeking an edge before their drafts – have to be impressed with the volume of content they get as the exhibition season points toward Opening Day in early April.

If you’re not careful, you’ll end up knowing just as much about the hopes and dreams of the Pittsburgh Pirates’ Lastings Milledge and Andrew McCutchen as you do the heart of the Dodgers’ lineup.

Peter Gammons, the Baseball Hall of Fame writer who joined the MLB Network this offseason, says these are the kinds of preview shows that were attempted to some degree while he was at ESPN, but the all-sports network could never really get past a five- to 10-minute window allotted for such an extensive team-by-team project.

“This has been a great idea, because the depth we can get into this,” said Gammons, who will spend time with more than a dozen teams between Florida and Arizona for the project, as well as his own writing. “And I know the players are watching them. (Minnesota catcher) Joe Mauer gave me a big hug. They tell me that every place I go. That’s a very good sign for the future.”

Vasgersian, the USC grad who left as the TV play-by-play man for the San Diego Padres to join MLB Network at its inception last year, said he recently received an e-mail from a viewer in Pittsburgh that caught him off guard.

“He said he loved how we were doing these shows, he could tell we were doing our homework … it was this gushing, rare e-mail that wasn’t angry about something,” said Vasgersian, who will soon return East to start regularly hosting the “MLB Tonight” and do play-by-play on Thursday night exclusive game telecasts. “To me, that’s more indicative of how this is playing out everywhere, with fans that get hooked on it.

“We try to keep it very spring-centric and really bring out the fun factor here. The players are far more unguarded. After talking to some of these guys (on the Angels), I’ve become bigger fans now of guys like Brandon Wood, Joel Pineiro and Jered Weaver after having the chance to chat with them. They’re very likable.”

The “30/30” series, which started March 3, finishes April 1. The show on the Angels debuted Thursday but will reair it several times this weekend, including 1 p.m. today and at 9 a.m. and 11 p.m. Saturday. The Dodgers’ preview first airs today at 2 and 7 p.m. and repeats seven times, including 1 p.m. Saturday.

Trenni Kusnierek, who with producer Nick Steger, cameraman Reggie Gibson and sound man Frank Baglino set up interviews all Thursday morning with the Dodgers’ Matt Kemp, Clayton Kershaw and Tommy Lasorda during her stop Wednesday and Thursday in Glendale, said she knows the players are watching this as well especially this year.

It’s become a place they can even promote themselves better than if it was during the regular season.

“Matt Kemp says he expects to get a lot grief from his teammates when they see the next issue of GQ, because they used him as a model for a Polo clothing spread and shot it all right here,” Kusnierek said. “I didn’t even have to ask him about Rihanna.”

The essence of Scully

Vin Scully’s favorite Shakesperean line is … ?

The last book he read was … ?

The question he’s asked most often is… ?

Why not ask him yourself?

The Dodgers’ Hall of Fame broadcaster will be the subject of the Daily News’ “Weekend Q-and-A” series, appearing in the Sunday, April 3 edition just before the team begins the 2010 regular season with a road trip in Pittsburgh.

Submit your questions for Scully via e-mail (thomas.hoffarth@dailynews.com) and we’ll do our best to include them during the interview.

WHAT SMOKES

== Whether it was DirecTV’s impatience to get something done before the NHL playoffs start in a couple of weeks or Comcast’s thurst to push its mixed-martial arts shows back in front of 18.5 million subscribers, the peace treaty signed this week ending a six-plus-month stalemate and bring Versus back to the satellite dish service’s lineup appears to leave everyone somewhat satisfied. Except maybe for a lot of viewers left in the dark since last August over what causes two major media companies to fight over a pile of nickels. Versus president Jamie Davis made it clear how this deal helps his side: “We look forward to super-serving fans with NHL regular-season and playoff coverage, our first live UFC event and much more.” Versus saw a 6 percent drop in its NHL viewership since the league’s return from the buzz supposedly generated from the Vancouver Winter Olympics over what it had prior to the Games.

WHAT CHOKES

== ESPN senior writer Buster Olney should know better. He reported earlier this week that the Philadelphia Phillies had “internal discussions” about a deal to send star first baseman Ryan Howard to St. Louis for star first baseman Albert Pujols, since both are upcoming free agents. In today’s knee-jerk media environment, this quickly hit the spin cycle and left a few people soaking wet. Cardinals manager Tony LaRussa addressed it this way: “It’s the media – they can be very useful (or) very abusive. … The person who came up with that should be tracked down, and then you say, ‘Hmm, your credibility just took a big hit.’ It’s ridiculous.” On his (pay-to-read) ESPN blog, Olney is clear: No negotiations took place, and neither team was “inclined” to make the deal. But he adds: “As a reporter, when you have confirmed information that the Phillies have discussed internally an avenue through which how they might pursue the best player in baseball – and you know exactly who said what to whom, and how sturdy the intent was – that is news. …. And while it may be inconvenient to some, it’s credible.” Olney’s reference to his “inconvenient” truth was referring to how LaRussa and Pujols were quoted as being irritated when reporters followed up with questions about it. In truth, Olney really didn’t oversell his somewhat non-story; his employer, ESPN, took care of that with all its platforms of chattering.

Tom Hoffarth is a freelancer. He had been with the Daily News/Southern California News Group since 1992 as a general assignment sports reporter, columnist and specialist in the sports media. He has been honored by the Associated Press for sports columnists and honored by the Southern California Sports Broadcasters Association for his career work. His favorite sportscaster of all time: Vin Scully, for professional and personal reasons. He considers watching Zenyatta win the Breeders' Cup 2009 Classic to be the most memorable sporting event he has covered in his career. Go figure that.

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